The 34-year-old biologist hopes to win the $100,000 grand prize so he can expand his composting business, Overton Environmental Enterprises, by building a new composting pad site.

The company uses millions of worms to break down plant materials, and excrete worm castings, that produce nutrient-rich compost products.

"We actually use the worms to take a peat-based product and recycled cardboard and actually turn it into a really, really rich soil amendment that's chock-full of these microbes, but also helps to increase water-holding capacity … so that we can actually reduce our reliance on fertilizers and pesticides," Overton told CBC News on Wednesday.

Overton's products are currently used in Canada, the United States and the Middle East by 150 clients in the agriculture, golf, horticulture and environmental industries, according to his contest entry on the BDC website.